Filmmaker Ida Ali is absorptive in her approach. Stories and people inspire her. Perhaps, it’s also why she chose her house help to be the protagonist and leading actor for her short film, Bechari Chidiya, shot and directed during the lockdown. She tells Chahak Mittal how a story can be expressed through a film with very limited resources
Why are the best examples sought from our everyday lives? Perhaps, because they are very much in front of us; only we know what it’s like to be in that situation; and they are our very realities.
For filmmaker Ida Ali, her directorial Bechari Chidiya, also turned out to be an example taken from her most immediate surroundings. Rather, her home. When her house help, whom she refers to as “didi”, could not go back to her home in Odisha during the lockdown, it occurred to Ida to make a film about how even though, unlike thousands, “she was in a house, she was not in her home.” The film revolves around a domestic worker, who is stuck at her employer’s house during the nationwide lockdown. Alone and unable to return to her village, she finds an unlikely companion.
The film, which is a part of the Life: Summer of 2020 series of short films, shot in lockdown, by Lockdown Shorts Studio, is now set to release on Disney Hotstar. Excerpts:
How did you conceptualise the film? How long did it take for you to complete it given the lockdown?
When I heard about Lockdown Shorts and was asked to think of a story, I instinctively looked to my surroundings. Who were the people in my vicinity? How were they affected by the lockdown?
My house help, whom I call “didi,” is one of the most important people in my life. She is someone whom I have lived with for years. And yet, my home was not her home because she had her family in her village in Odisha. The lockdown kept her from taking that one-time-a-year holiday to go to her home and meet her kids and grandkids. So my idea was based on not only her but on every worker from villages who had come to the city to find work and got stuck in the lockdown, unable to go back home.
Luckily, my didi turned out to be a fantastic actor. I cast her as the only character in my film. I shot the film on my iPhone and the production stage of the film went by very fast. The post-production was a little trickier because films have so many collaborators and I got in touch with some really talented people for the post.
Communication, sending footage and coordinating was a challenge, but we made it work.
What were the on-ground challenges while directing your film during the lockdown?
Obviously, I had never directed a film, and definitely never imagined doing it in a lockdown. I ended up doing all the production work, including sound, camera, costumes, set and direction. But as much as it was challenging to single-handedly do everything, it actually empowered me. It showed me what adaptive filmmaking means. It can be created anywhere and anyhow.
Why the title, Bechari Chidiya? Does it aim to metaphorically reflect the trapped reality that Summer of 2020 became for those who are always wandering?
Living on the 34th floor, I saw an immediate increase in the bird population in Mumbai after the lockdown. They took over the city, flocked the then empty streets and even enjoyed the sunrise on my balcony. In my fascination with them, I thought about how a bird could be someone’s only companion if one was spending the lockdown alone. The idea was that how a bird and a woman became reflections of each other in that time. It is not a trap but simply an acceptance of nature.
During the migrant crisis in lockdown, while house helps and daily wage labourers were losing their jobs, to the contrary, in your film, the maid is instead stuck at the employer’s home. It’s a completely new angle to how crises in lockdown have been portrayed and looked at so far...
The migrant crisis really opened eyes and conversations about the sad reality of the workers in India — in a way it was needed. However, my perspective came from what I knew and what I saw firsthand. It is shocking to see that such few films have covered the lives of domestic helpers. It is almost like they have been overlooked. Well, I did not want my didi to be overlooked. I wanted to play with identity crisis even when one may be in a secure place — she was in a house but not in her home.
How do you think lockdown gave birth to new ventures for many?
I think the lockdown, for aspiring filmmakers like me, promoted the idea of making films when one is not comfortable — with a smaller crew, over the internet, planning way in advance. It was when people really pushed to find new and alternative methods to work. I think when someone steps out of their comfort zone is when they are truly free to be as creative and unique as they want to be. I think it was that for me.
Do you think post-COVID, the Indian cinema will have a changed face as it will need to showcase more realistic angles to how life has seen a drastic change?
Post-COVID, the entire world will be drastically changed. Well, it is already so different. Masks and distancing will not disappear overnight. People have learnt to segregate what is important for them from what is not, be it friendships, jobs or even leisurely activities and I think that will stay on. As cinema is a reflection of reality or, at most, a satire on the real world, it is bound to change.
After the WWI, the German cinema took off showcasing the surrealist style that resonated with many who had been through the war. After the WWII, the French cinema took off. The tough times always, always, contribute to art for the better and hopefully, so will 2020!
What does an Ida Ali character look like? What is your strategy to write and create a character?
I take great interest in people and they could be anyone — my mother, my friend’s grandfather, or even some passerby on the street. I want to know more about them, always.
It’s a process. First, I would, inevitably, start building a backstory for a person. Then, a future. Then, I’d think about or try to explore what they are thinking of. The characters I create are probably, mostly holistic. Other than that, I do not want them to be the same type. I want to explore all kinds of people.
Sir Imtiaz Ali has been a cherished filmmaker in the Indian cinema. And being the daughter of a famous director, has it ever felt burdened to match up to his level?
Well, I am asked this question a lot and very honestly, this is when I feel ‘burdened’ the most. Other than that, my aim in life is to create and present stories. I am already doing that, and some people seem to appreciate it. Currently, I choose to let go of that burden and be happy about even one smile that my film brings to a person’s face.
What made you to pursue a career as a filmmaker? Was it because of your parents? How have your growing up years shaped you as a filmmaker?
My parents have been making films ever since I can remember. I would be naive to think that it did not influence me to become a filmmaker. However, what I really credit for my interest in making films is stories. I find them intriguing. I’ve listened to them for hours and not let my eyes shut even when I was being put to bed because I wanted to listen to them more.
Now, I have started to tell my own stories, create them, bring them alive through films, present them in the exact way I’d imagined in my mind. I wanted to be a filmmaker just to be able to do this.
